Catherine of Braganza Catherine of Braganza Location of death: Lisbon, Portugal Cause of death: unspecified Remains: Buried, S�o Vicente de Fora, Lisbon, Portugal Gender: Female Nationality: Portugal Executive summary: Consort of English King Charles II Queen consort of Charles II of England, daughter of Jo�o IV of Portugal, and of Louisa de Gusman, daughter of the duke of Medina Sidonia, was born on the 15/25 of November 1638 at Vila Vi�osa. She was early regarded as a useful medium for contracting an alliance with England, more necessary than ever to Portugal after the treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 whereby Portugal was ostensibly abandoned by France.

Negotiations for the marriage began during the reign of King Charles I , were renewed immediately after the Restoration, and on the 23rd of June, in spite of Spanish opposition, the marriage contract was signed, England securing Tangier and Bombay, with trading privileges in Brazil and the East Indies, religious and commercial freedom in Portugal and two million Portuguese crowns (about �300,000); while Portugal obtained military and naval support against Spain and liberty of worship for Catherine. She reached England on the 13th of May 1662, but was not visited by Charles at Portsmouth until the 20th. The next day the marriage was solemnized twice, according to the Roman Catholic and Anglican usages. Catherine possessed several good qualities, but had been brought up in a conventual seclusion and was scarcely a wife Charles would have chosen for himself. Her personal charms were not potent enough to wean Charles away from the society of his mistresses, and in a few weeks after her arrival she became aware of her painful and humiliating position as the wife of the selfish and licentious king.

On the first presentation to her of Lady Castlemaine, Charles's mistress en titre, whom he insisted on making lady of her bedchamber, she fainted away. She withdrew from the king's society, and in spite of Clarendon's attempts to moderate her resentment, declared she would return to Portugal rather than consent to a base compliance. To overcome her resistance nearly the whole of her Portuguese retinue was dismissed. She was helpless, and the violence of her grief and anger soon changed to passive resistance, and then to a complete forbearance and complaisance which gained the king's regard and favor. In the midst of Charles's debauched and licentious court, she lived neglected and retired, often deprived of her due allowance, having no ambitions and taking no part in English politics, but keeping up rather her interest in her native country. As the prospect diminished of her bearing children to Charles, several schemes were set on foot for procuring a divorce on various pretexts. As a Roman Catholic and near to the king's person Catherine was the special object of attack by the inventors of the Popish Plot.

In 1678 the murder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey was ascribed to her servants, and Titus Oates accused her of a design to poison the king. These charges, of which the absurdity was soon shown by cross-examination, nevertheless placed the queen for some time in great danger. On the 28th of November Oates accused her of high treason, and the Commons passed an address for her removal and that of all the Roman Catholics from Whitehall. A series of fresh depositions were sent in against her, and in June 1679 it was decided that she must stand her trial; but she was protected by the king, who in this instance showed unusual chivalry and earned her gratitude.

On the 17th of November Shaftesbury moved in the House of Lords for a divorce to enable the king to marry a Protestant and have legitimate issue; but he received little support, and the bill was opposed by Charles, who continued to show his wife "extraordinary affection." During the winter the calumnies against the queen were revived by Fitzharris, who, however, before his execution in 1681 confessed to their falsity; and after the revival of the king's influence subsequent to the Oxford parliament, the queen's position was not further assailed. During Charles's last illness in 1685 she showed great anxiety for his reconciliation with the Romish Church, and it was probably effected largely through her influence. She exhibited great grief at his death. She afterwards resided at Somerset House and at Hammersmith, where she had privately founded a convent. She interceded with great generosity, but ineffectually, for Monmouth the same year. On the 10th of June 1688 she was present at the birth of the prince of Wales and gave evidence before the council in favor of the genuineness of the child.

She was still in England at the Revolution, having delayed her return to Portugal to prosecute a lawsuit against the second Earl of Clarendon, formerly her chamberlain. She maintained at first good terms with William and Mary; but the practice of her religion aroused jealousies, while her establishment at Somerset House was said to be the home of cabals against the government; and in 1691 she settled for a short tithe at Euston. She left England finally with a train of one hundred persons in March 1692, traveling through France and arriving at Lisbon on the 20th of January 1693. She took up her residence at the palace of Bemposta, built by herself, near Lisbon. In 1703 she supported the Methuen Treaty, which cemented still further the alliance between Portugal and England, and in 1704 she was appointed regent of Portugal during the illness of her brother King Pedro II, her administration being distinguished by several successes gained over the Spaniards.

She died on the 31st of December 1705, bequeathing her great wealth, the result of long hoarding, after the payment of divers charitable legacies, to King Pedro; and was buried with great ceremony and splendor at Belem. Father: João IV (King of Portugal) Mother: Louisa de Gusman Queen Catherine of Baganza Queen Catherine of Braganza Queen Catherine of Braganza (1638-1705) King Charles II of England married Catherine, Infanta of Portugal, by proxy in Lisbon, on 23rd April 1662. The marriage treaty between the royal families included a dowry of sugar, plate and jewels to the value of 400,000 crowns, bills of exchange to double that amount, the rights to free trade with Brazil and the East Indies, and the cessions of Bombay and Tangiers. It was the troubled state of Tangiers, under constant threat from the Moors that led to the creation of the 2nd Regiment of Foot later the Queen's Royal (West Surrey) Regiment.

This force was to protect Tangiers’ strategic position at the entry to the Mediterranean for the next two decades and on its return to England, Charles II renamed it, “our dearest consort, the Queen’s Regiment.” When the marriage plans were under discussion, Charles II was persuaded that the Portuguese princess would make a tolerable wife when he was shown a portrait brought over by the Portuguese ambassador. A Londoner reported on 11th May 1661 the “The picture of out intended Queen is at Whitehall; by that and the report of those that have seen her she is a lovely little woman.” Standing before it Charles is said to have remarked “That person cannot be unhandsome”. His hesitancy was understandable, for the portrait in fact shows a doll like young lady wearing a stiff Portuguese court dress with a huge farthingale. Her hair is brushed horizontally across her forehead, but allowed otherwise to ripple loose to her shoulders, signifying her virginal marriageable state. The original was painted by Dirck Stoop, a Dutchman working at the court in Lisbon. On the wedding day in Lisbon a version of this portrait together with a full length of King Charles, was carried through the streets as part of the public celebration.

Apart from the solemn Catholic matrimonial mass in the great Manueline Abbey of St, Jerome at Belem on the river Tagus, there was a stately procession passing under triumphal arches, followed by a bullfight and later an aquatic carnival with fireworks. A colourful record of the proceedings is to be found in a heroic poem called Iter Lusitania: or the Portugal Voyage which celebrated the wedding and the Queen’s journey from Portugal to England. This publication was illustrated with half a dozen engravings by an eyewitness, the same Dirck Stoop, who had a special allegiance to the Infanta and came to England in her retinue in 1662. On 13th May she landed at Portsmouth. A few days later she was joined by the King and their marriage was given Protestant validity by the Bishop of London in a private service. The Queen wore a rose coloured dress with blue love knots, which were later snipped off and handed round to all present.

The King was not displeased with his new bride and wrote shortly afterwards to Minette, his sister: “Her face is not so exactly as to be called a beauty, though her eyes are excellent good, and nothing in her face that in the least degree can disgust one. On the contrary, she hath as much agreeableness in her looks as I ever saw, and if I have any skill in physiognomy, which I think I have, she must be as good a woman as ever was born. You will wonder to see how well we are acquainted already; in a word, I think myself very happy, for I am confident our two humours will agree very well together.” Queen Catherine of Braganza (1638-1705) A royal marriage at this time was merely a political match, although they were expected to produce an heir. In this she signally failed, but the King remained true to her, in the formal sense of honouring her as his wife, despite her childlessness and throughout the time she was accused of sedition during the succession crisis and the Popish Plot of 1678 – 1681.

Very soon after arriving in England the Queen adopted English dress and arranged her hair in fashionable wired bunches of ringlets on either side of her face. It was like this that Samuel Cooper painted her, in an unfinished miniature which is one of the prized possessions of Her Majesty the Queen today. Charles II acquired it for the Royal Collection after the artist’s death. A royal portrait like this, made from the life, from which he might be required to make many copies, would be kept by Cooper in his studio for the purpose of reproduction. The spontaneity of a life sitting is clearly visible. With the fervour of the restoration, demand for paintings of Charles outstripped all expectations. The affable King’s personal popularity was high, and his Queen, despite her Catholicism, basked in reflected glory. They were both painted by Peter Lely, but the head and shoulders of the Queen, which normally hangs in the Officers Mess, is after an original by a Dutchman called Pieter Borsselaer who came to this country in the early 1660s.

The larger of the Regiment’s pictures of the Queen, hanging at Regimental Headquarters, Canterbury over the stairs, is a composition usually ascribed to Jacob Huysmans, a Catholic painter from Antwerp. Both show her holding an orb, with a crown nearby. The complimentary inclusion of the regalia, ermine and crimson velvet makes them both formal state portraits, but the fact was, that the Queen was never crowned. Charles had been crowned well before her arrival, in order to avoid the difficulty of crowning a Catholic. The portraits known definitely to have been painted by Huysmans are rather different. Samuel Pepys visited his studio on 26th August 1664 and saw the artist working on two portraits at once: “The Queene is drawn in one like a shepherdess – in the other like St. Katharin, most like and most admirably.” Perhaps it was the Queen herself who chose less stately but more subtle types of portrait. Portrayal as a Saint, carrying a martyr’s palm, and kneeling on a broken wheel, reveals that she had dedicated her life to the devotion of her religion.

Her childhood had been spent in a remote convent, and upon her marriage she saw her duty in England to be protector of the Catholic faith. It had been one of the conditions of the marriage treaty that she would be allowed to practice her religion in England without interference, and throughout much of Charles II’s reign, her chapels at St. James’s and in Somerset House were the only places in London where Catholics could worship freely. The second very beautiful portrait of the Queen as a shepherdess can be seen today in the King’s dining room at Windsor Castle in an elaborate Grinling Gibbon’s frame. The mood of the painting would appear recreational; the ducks at her feet might reflect her interest in birds – she kept her own aviary, importing parrots and cockatoos from India. She wears silvery white, rose and blue, and a broad – brimmed hat pinned with a butterfly brooch. Her hair hangs long and loose. It was de rigueur at the time to be painted in this ‘timeless’ pastoral gear to avoid being quickly dated by changing fashions. But 17th century paintings often have hidden symbolism.

She also holds a crook and her left hand rests on a lamb with a fair-haired boy tipping flowers over its back. The lamb is associated with innocence, gentleness, patience and humility. It is also symbolic of Christ the shepherd, and with his sacrifice for mankind. Catherine had all the foregoing qualities, and she may have identified particularly with the Good Shepherd in her duties as leader of the Catholic faith in England. Why else is the boy showering the lamb with flowers, rather than herself? Queen Catherine of Braganza (1638-1705) She is shown seated out of doors, surrounded by birds and animals, in a later portrait painted about 1680 by Benedetto Gennari. This is the painting illustrated by Jock Haswell on p.15 of his book on the regiment: the painting itself hangs at Goodwood. Gennari was another Catholic, an Italian who came to England in the suite of Mary of Modena when she married James, Duke of York, the King’s brother. Further gentle symbolism is intended: nourishment is being given to the lamb of Faith, and the book would be a holy one.

The fountain, as a source of water, represented one’s spiritual life and salvation, and was often used as an attribute of the Virgin and the Immaculate Conception – the Queen’s hope of bearing a child was still evident. When Charles II died in 1685, Catherine, as Queen Dowager, had three years of openly practising her religion without fear while the Catholic James II was on the throne. After his exile in 1688, however, under William and Mary, all Catholic chapels were closed, Catherine’s household was drastically reduced, and she was hounded into meaner accommodation. For a number of years she felt it her duty to stay on and represent the Catholic faith in England, but finally the cross that she had born so bravely against the spiteful intolerance of Queen Mary, became too much, and she managed to get leave from Louis XIV to journey across France to her homeland, the only method of travel that she could afford. She died in Portugal after steering her own country, as Queen Regent, through some difficult shoals at the start of the eighteenth century. By then, to English Catholics, she had become something of a martyr.

It has been suggested that it was as her special symbol that the Paschal Lamb was adopted by the Regiment at this time. It was about this time that its officers began to be called “Kirke’s Lambs” and the Regiment would not have been averse. The army historian, John Childs, states that before its dissolution, the Tangiers garrison was periodically accused by Parliament of being a hotbed of popery. It would be the hidden Catholic significance of the Lamb combined with the flag of St. George of England that could convey the Regiment’s dual allegiance to Queen and to nation. The lamb is not an emblem of the Royal House of Braganza, which has seven towers in its crest. A tower can just be seen in the background of the painting of ‘Saint’ Catherine by Huysmans. The original of this portrait is now in the hands of a wine-growing family and kept at a Quinta or villa/farmhouse just south of the Tagus. It is a wry post-script to her story to discover that it is this saintly representation which is reproduced on the label of a delicious woody Vinho Branco called “Catarina”.

Series of amalgamation is now part of The Princess of Wale’s Royal Regiment (Queen’s and Royal Hampshires). The Queen’s Royal Regiment through a Lady. Catherine of Braganza - Wikipedia, Photos and Videos Catherine of Braganza NEXT GO TO RESULTS [51 .. 100] WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE Not to be confused with Catherine, Duchess of Braganza . Catherine of Braganza 23 April 1662 – 6 February 1685 Born Roman Catholicism Catherine of Braganza ( Portuguese : Catarina de Bragança; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was Queen of England , Scotland and Ireland from 1662 to 1685, as the wife of King Charles II . Catherine was born into the House of Braganza , the most senior noble house of Portugal , which became Portugal's royal house after Catherine's father, John, 8th Duke of Braganza , was proclaimed King John IV after deposing the House of Habsburg in 1640.

Owing to her devotion to the Roman Catholic beliefs in which she had been raised, Catherine was an unpopular consort for Charles II. [1] She was a special object of attack by the inventors of the Popish Plot . In 1678 the murder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey was ascribed to her servants, and Titus Oates accused her of an intention to poison the king. These charges, the absurdity of which were soon shown by cross-examination, nevertheless placed the queen for some time in great danger. On 28 November Oates accused her of high treason , and the Commons passed an order for her removal and that of all Roman Catholics from Whitehall . A series of fresh depositions were made against her, and in June 1679 it was decided that she must stand trial; but she was protected by the king, which earned her gratitude. Catherine had three miscarriages and produced no heirs. [1] Her husband kept many mistresses, most notably Barbara Palmer , whom Catherine was forced to accept as one of her Ladies of the Bedchamber . [2] Charles fathered numerous illegitimate offspring by his mistresses whom he acknowledged.

She and Charles are credited with introducing the custom of drinking tea to the British court, [3] which was common among the Portuguese nobility . Contents Early life and family[ edit ] Infanta Catherine of Portugal by Dirk Stoop , 1660–1661 Catherine was born at the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa , as the second surviving daughter of John, 8th Duke of Braganza and his wife, Luisa de Guzmán . [4] Following the Portuguese Restoration War , her father was acclaimed King John IV of Portugal, on 1 December 1640. With her father's new position as one of Europe's most important monarchs, Catherine became a prime choice for a wife for European royalty, and she was proposed as a bride for John of Austria , François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort , Louis XIV and Charles II , She was seen as a useful conduit for contracting an alliance between Portugal and England, after the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 in which Portugal was arguably abandoned by France. Despite her country's ongoing struggle with Spain, Catherine enjoyed a happy, contented childhood in her beloved Lisbon .

Commonly regarded as the power behind the throne , Queen Luisa was also a devoted mother who took an active interest in her children's upbringing and personally supervised her daughter's education. Catherine is believed to have spent most of her youth in a convent close by the royal palace where she remained under the watchful eye of her protective mother. It appears to have been a very sheltered upbringing, with one contemporary remarking that Catherine, "was bred hugely retired" and "hath hardly been ten times out of the palace in her life". [5] Catherine's older sister, Joana, Princess of Beira , died in 1653, leaving Catherine as the eldest surviving child of her parents. Her husband was chosen by Luisa, who acted as regent of her country following her husband's death in 1656. [1] Marriage[ edit ] Negotiations for the marriage began during the reign of King Charles I , were renewed immediately after the Restoration, and on 23 June 1661, in spite of Spanish opposition, the marriage contract was signed.

England secured Tangier (in North Africa) and the Seven Islands of Bombay (in India), trading privileges in Brazil and the East Indies , religious and commercial freedom in Portugal, and two million Portuguese crowns (about £300,000); while Portugal obtained military and naval support against Spain and liberty of worship for Catherine. [6] She arrived at Portsmouth on the evening of 13–14 May 1662, [6] but was not visited there by Charles until 20 May. The following day the couple were married at Portsmouth in two ceremonies – a Catholic one conducted in secret, followed by a public Anglican service [6] at the chapel of Domus Dei . [7] Catherine of Braganza departs Lisbon from the Palace Square , 23 April 1662 On 30 September 1662 the married couple entered London as part of a large procession, which included the Portuguese delegation and many members of the court. There were also minstrels and musicians, among them ten playing shawms and twelve playing Portuguese bagpipes , those being the new Queen’s favourite instruments.

The procession continued over a large bridge, especially designed and built for the occasion, which led into the palace where Henrietta Maria, the Queen Mother waited, along with the British court and nobility. This was followed by feasting and firework displays. Catherine possessed several good qualities, but had been brought up in a convent, secluded from the world, and was scarcely a wife Charles would have chosen for himself. Her mother in law the Dowager Queen Henrietta Maria was pleased with her and Henrietta wrote that she is "The best creature in the world, from whom I have so much affection, I have the joy to see the King love her extremely. She is a Saint!". In reality, Catherine's personal charms were not potent enough to wean Charles away from the society of his mistresses, and in a few weeks after her arrival she became aware of her painful and humiliating position as the wife of a licentious king. [8] Little is known of Catherine's own thoughts on the match.

While her mother plotted to secure an alliance with England and thus support in Portugal's fight for independence, and her future husband celebrated his restoration by dallying with his mistresses, Catherine's time had been spent in the sombre seclusion of her convent home, with little opportunity for fun or frivolity. Even outside the convent her actions were governed by the strict etiquette of the royal court of Portugal. By all accounts Catherine grew into a quiet, even-tempered young woman. A plaque at Sally Port in the Garrison walls at Portsmouth commemorates Catherine's first setting foot on English soil. At the time of her marriage she was already twenty-three, something which was not lost on her critics, and had long since resigned herself to the necessity of making a grand match abroad. Contented and serene, Catherine's rather quaint response on being told of her impending nuptials was to request permission to make a pilgrimage to a favourite shrine of hers in Lisbon . Devoted to her beloved Portugal, as she set sail for England any distress she may have felt at leaving her family and her home was no doubt lessened by the knowledge that her marriage had been hailed as "the welcomest news that ever came to the Portuguese people".

[5] Catherine became pregnant and miscarried at least three times, and during a severe illness in 1663, she imagined, for a time, that she had given birth. Charles comforted her by telling her she had indeed given birth to two sons and a daughter. Her position was a difficult one, and though Charles continued to have children by his many mistresses, he insisted she be treated with respect, and sided with her against his mistresses when he felt she was not receiving the respect she was due. After her three miscarriages, it seemed to be more and more unlikely that the queen would bear an heir. Royal advisors urged the monarch to seek a divorce, hoping that the new wife would be Protestant and fertile – but Charles refused. This eventually led to her being made a target by courtiers. [1] Throughout his reign , Charles firmly dismissed the idea of divorcing Catherine, and she remained faithful to Charles throughout their marriage. Queen consort[ edit ] Queen Catherine by Sir Peter Lely , 1665 Catherine was not a particularly popular choice of queen since she was a Roman Catholic . [1] Her religion prevented her from being crowned, as Roman Catholics were forbidden to take part in Anglican services.

She initially faced hardships due to the language barrier, the king's infidelities and the political conflicts between Roman Catholics and Anglicans. Over time, her quiet decorum, loyalty and genuine affection for Charles changed the public's perception of her. Although her difficulties with the English language persisted, as time went on, the once rigidly formal Portuguese Infanta mellowed and began to enjoy some of the more innocent pleasures of the court. She loved to play cards and shocked devout Protestants by playing on Sundays. She enjoyed dancing and took great delight in organising masques . She had a great love for the countryside and picnics; fishing and archery were also favourite pastimes. In a far cry from her convent-days the newly liberated Catherine displayed a fondness for the recent trend of court ladies wearing men's clothing, which we are told, "showed off her pretty, neat legs and ankles"; and she was even reported to have considered leading the way in wearing shorter dresses, which would show off her feet.

In 1670, on a trip to Audley End with her ladies-in-waiting, the once chronically shy Catherine attended a country fair disguised as a village maiden, but was soon discovered and, due to the large crowds, forced to make a hasty retreat. And when in 1664 her favourite painter, Jacob Huysmans, a Dutch Catholic, painted her as St Catherine , it promptly set a trend among court ladies. [5] She did not involve herself in English politics, instead she kept up an active interest in her native country. Anxious to re-establish good relations with the Pope and perhaps gain recognition for Portuguese independence, she sent Richard Bellings , later her principal secretary, to Rome with letters for the pope and several cardinals. In 1669 she involved herself in the relief of Candia in Crete, which was under siege by the Turks and whose cause Rome was promoting, although she failed to persuade her husband to take any action. In 1670, as a sign of her rising favour with the pontiff she requested, and was granted, devotional objects.

[5] On the first presentation to Charles' official mistress, Barbara Palmer , she fainted away upon realizing who had been brought before her and Charles's insistence on making her Catherine's Lady of the Bedchamber. [9] Initially, not realizing who was presented to her, she accepted Barbara graciously, but upon comprehension changed her bearing. She withdrew from the king's society, and in spite of Clarendon's awkward attempts to appeal to her, declared she would return to Portugal rather than consent to a base compliance. To overcome her resistance the king dismissed nearly the whole of her Portuguese retinue. She was helpless, and the violence of her grief and anger soon changed to passive resistance, and then to a complete forbearance and complaisance which gained the king's regard and favour. In the midst of Charles's debauched and licentious court, she lived neglected and retired. [10] Catholicism[ edit ] Catherine of Braganza, Queen of England, by Jacob Huysmans Though known to keep her faith a private matter, her religion and proximity to the king made her the target of anti-Catholic sentiment. Catherine occupied herself with her faith.

Her piety was widely known and was a characteristic in his wife that the King greatly admired; in his letters to his sister, Catherine's devoutness is described almost with awe. Her household contained between four and six priests, and in 1665, Catherine decided to build a religious house east of St James's to be occupied by thirteen Portuguese Franciscans of the order of St Peter of Alcantara. It was completed by 1667 and would become known as The Friary. [5] In 1675 the stress of a possible revival of the divorce project indirectly led to another illness, which Catherine's physicians claimed and her husband cannot fail to have noted, was "due as much to mental as physical causes". In the same year, all Irish and English Catholic priests were ordered to leave the country, which left Catherine dependent upon foreign priests. As increasingly harsher measures were put in place against Catholics, Catherine appointed her close friend and adviser, the devoutly Catholic Francisco de Mello, former Portuguese Ambassador to England, as her Lord Chamberlain . It was an unusual and controversial move but "wishing to please Catherine and perhaps demonstrate the futility of moves for divorce, the King granted his permission.

De Mello was dismissed the following year for ordering the printing of a Catholic book, leaving the beleaguered Catherine even more isolated at court". [5] One consolation was that Louise de Kéroualle , who replaced Barbara Palmer as reigning mistress, always treated the Queen with proper deference; the Queen in return showed her gratitude by using her own influence to protect Louise during the Popish Plot. Further information: Popish plot The Test Act of 1673 had driven all Catholics out of public office, and anti-Catholic feelings intensified in the years to come. Although she was not active in religious politics, in 1675 Catherine was criticised for supposedly supporting the idea of appointing a bishop to England who, it was hoped, would resolve the internal disputes of Catholics. Critics also noted the fact that, despite orders to the contrary, English Catholics attended her private chapel. As one of the highest-ranking Catholics in the country, Catherine was an obvious target for Protestant extremists, and it was hardly surprising that the Popish Plot of 1678 would directly threaten her position.

However, Catherine was completely secure in her husband's favour ("she could never do anything wicked, and it would be a horrible thing to abandon her" he told Gilbert Burnet ), and the House of Lords , most of whom knew her and liked her, refused by an overwhelming majority to impeach her. [5] Relations between the royal couple became notably warmer: Catherine wrote of Charles' "wonderful kindness" to her. and it was noted that his visits to her apartments became longer and more frequent. Later life and death[ edit ] In Portugal, Catherine spent the rest of her life as a mentor for her nephew, Prince John . At Charles' final illness in 1685, she showed anxiety for his reconciliation with the Roman Catholic faith, and she exhibited great grief at his death. When he lay dying in 1685, he asked for Catherine, but she sent a message asking that her presence be excused and "to beg his pardon if she had offended him all his life." He answered, "Alas poor woman! she asks for my pardon?

I beg hers with all my heart; take her back that answer." [11] Later in the same year, she unsuccessfully interceded with James II for the life of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth , Charles's illegitimate son and leader of the Monmouth Rebellion – even though Monmouth in rebellion had called upon the support represented by the staunch Protestants opposed to the Catholic Church. Catherine remained in England, living at Somerset House , [12] through the reign of James and his deposition in the Glorious Revolution by William III and Mary II . She remained in England partly because of a protracted lawsuit against her former Lord Chamberlain, Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon , over money that she claimed as part of her allowance and that he claimed was part of the perquisite of his office. Catherine's fondness for money is one of the more unexpected features of her character: her brother-in-law James, who was himself notably avaricious, remarked that she always drove a hard bargain. Initially on good terms with William and Mary, her position deteriorated as the practice of her religion led to misunderstandings and increasing isolation.

A bill was introduced to Parliament to limit the number of Catherine's Catholic servants, and she was warned not to agitate against the government. She finally returned to Portugal in March 1699, where she took care of and mentored her nephew, Prince John . His mother, Maria Sofia of Neuburg , had recently died, and the prince had fallen into a depression. Catherine was instrumental in lifting the young prince's spirits, and soon became a key part in his life, as his tutor and main female figure in his life. Her death would, in fact, cause Prince John to experience another depression. In 1703, she supported the Treaty of Methuen between Portugal and England. She acted as regent for her brother, Peter II , in 1701 and 1704–05. She died at the Bemposta Palace in Lisbon on 31 December 1705 and was buried at the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora Lisbon. Legacy[ edit ] Catherine is credited with the introduction of tea drinking to Britain, although Samuel Pepys makes reference to drinking tea for the first time in his diary entry for 25 September 1660 (i.e.

prior to Catherine's emigration to England and marriage to Charles). It is more likely that she popularised the drink, which was unusual in Britain at the time. [13] Beyond tea, her arrival brought and promulgated goods such as cane, lacquer, cottons, and porcelain. [14] Catherine of Braganza (Jacobite broadside) Queens , a borough of New York City , was supposedly named after Catherine of Braganza, since she was queen when Queens County was established in 1683. Queens' naming is consistent with those of Kings County (the borough of Brooklyn, originally named after her husband, King Charles II) and Richmond County (the borough of Staten Island, named after his illegitimate son, the 1st Duke of Richmond ). [15] [16] [17] However, there is no historical evidence that Queens County was named in her honor, neither is there a document from the time proclaiming it so. After the tri-centennial of the establishment of Queens County in 1983, a group of Portuguese-Americans began raising money to erect a 35-foot statue of Queen Catherine on the East River waterfront in Long Island City .

The sculptor of the proposed statue was Audrey Flack . The project was well advanced when opposition arose. Historians objected on the grounds that there was no evidence that Queens was actually named after her, and further that a British monarch was an inappropriate subject for a public monument. African-Americans objected to the statue on the grounds that the British and Portuguese royal houses benefited from the African slave trade. Irish-Americans objected to any statue of a British monarch. The controversy forced Borough President Claire Shulman to withdraw her support, and the statue was never erected. [18] [19] A quarter-scale model survives at the site of Expo '98 in Lisbon , Portugal, facing west across the Atlantic. Novelists, notably Margaret Campbell Barnes in With All My Heart, Jean Plaidy in her Charles II trilogy and Susanna Gregory in her Thomas Chaloner mystery novels, usually portray the Queen in a sympathetic light.

Catherine's marriage had an important result for the later history of India and of the British Empire, though the Queen personally had little to do with it: soon after acquiring the Seven Islands of Bombay as part of her dowry, Charles II rented them to the East India Company which moved its Presidency there - resulting in Bombay / Mumbai eventually growing to become one of the main cities of India. Arms[ edit ] Catherine's coat of arms as queen consort of England The royal arms of the British monarch are impaled with the royal arms of her father. For supporters, she used the crowned lion of England on the dexter side, and on the sinister, the wyvern Vert of Portugal. [20] Ancestry[ edit ] This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (June 2016) Queen Catherine of Baganza Queen Catherine of Braganza and King Charles II of England King Charles II of England married Catherine, Infanta of Portugal, by proxy in Lisbon, on 23rd April 1662.

The marriage treaty between the royal families included a dowry of sugar, plate and jewels to the value of 400,000 crowns, bills of exchange to double that amount, the rights to free trade with Brazil and the East Indies, and the cessions of Bombay and Tangiers. It was the troubled state of Tangiers, under constant threat from the Moors that led to the creation of the 2nd Regiment of Foot later the Queen's Royal (West Surrey) Regiment. This force was to protect Tangiers’ strategic position at the entry to the Mediterranean for the next two decades and on its return to England, Charles II renamed it, “our dearest consort, the Queen’s Regiment.” When the marriage plans were under discussion, Charles II was persuaded that the Portuguese princess would make a tolerable wife when he was shown a portrait brought over by the Portuguese ambassador. A Londoner reported on 11th May 1661 the “The picture of out intended Queen is at Whitehall; by that and the report of those that have seen her she is a lovely little woman.” Standing before it Charles is said to have remarked “That person cannot be unhandsome”.

His hesitancy was understandable, for the portrait in fact shows a doll like young lady wearing a stiff Portuguese court dress with a huge farthingale. Her hair is brushed horizontally across her forehead, but allowed otherwise to ripple loose to her shoulders, signifying her virginal marriageable state. The original was painted by Dirck Stoop, a Dutchman working at the court in Lisbon. On the wedding day in Lisbon a version of this portrait together with a full length of King Charles, was carried through the streets as part of the public celebration. Apart from the solemn Catholic matrimonial mass in the great Manueline Abbey of St, Jerome at Belem on the river Tagus, there was a stately procession passing under triumphal arches, followed by a bullfight and later an aquatic carnival with fireworks. A colourful record of the proceedings is to be found in a heroic poem called Iter Lusitania: or the Portugal Voyage which celebrated the wedding and the Queen’s journey from Portugal to England. This publication was illustrated with half a dozen engravings by an eyewitness, the same Dirck Stoop, who had a special allegiance to the Infanta and came to England in her retinue in 1662.

On 13th May she landed at Portsmouth. A few days later she was joined by the King and their marriage was given Protestant validity by the Bishop of London in a private service. The Queen wore a rose coloured dress with blue love knots, which were later snipped off and handed round to all present. The King was not displeased with his new bride and wrote shortly afterwards to Minette, his sister: “Her face is not so exactly as to be called a beauty, though her eyes are excellent good, and nothing in her face that in the least degree can disgust one. On the contrary, she hath as much agreeableness in her looks as I ever saw, and if I have any skill in physiognomy, which I think I have, she must be as good a woman as ever was born. You will wonder to see how well we are acquainted already; in a word, I think myself very happy, for I am confident our two humours will agree very well together.” Queen Catherine of Braganza (1638-1705) A royal marriage at this time was merely a political match, although they were expected to produce an heir.

In this she signally failed, but the King remained true to her, in the formal sense of honouring her as his wife, despite her childlessness and throughout the time she was accused of sedition during the succession crisis and the Popish Plot of 1678 – 1681. Very soon after arriving in England the Queen adopted English dress and arranged her hair in fashionable wired bunches of ringlets on either side of her face. It was like this that Samuel Cooper painted her, in an unfinished miniature which is one of the prized possessions of Her Majesty the Queen today. Charles II acquired it for the Royal Collection after the artist’s death. A royal portrait like this, made from the life, from which he might be required to make many copies, would be kept by Cooper in his studio for the purpose of reproduction. The spontaneity of a life sitting is clearly visible. With the fervour of the restoration, demand for paintings of Charles outstripped all expectations. The affable King’s personal popularity was high, and his Queen, despite her Catholicism, basked in reflected glory.

They were both painted by Peter Lely, but the head and shoulders of the Queen, which normally hangs in the Officers Mess, is after an original by a Dutchman called Pieter Borsselaer who came to this country in the early 1660s. The larger of the Regiment’s pictures of the Queen, hanging at Regimental Headquarters, Canterbury over the stairs, is a composition usually ascribed to Jacob Huysmans, a Catholic painter from Antwerp. Both show her holding an orb, with a crown nearby. The complimentary inclusion of the regalia, ermine and crimson velvet makes them both formal state portraits, but the fact was, that the Queen was never crowned. Charles had been crowned well before her arrival, in order to avoid the difficulty of crowning a Catholic. The portraits known definitely to have been painted by Huysmans are rather different. Samuel Pepys visited his studio on 26th August 1664 and saw the artist working on two portraits at once: “The Queene is drawn in one like a shepherdess – in the other like St. Katharin, most like and most admirably.” Perhaps it was the Queen herself who chose less stately but more subtle types of portrait.

Portrayal as a Saint, carrying a martyr’s palm, and kneeling on a broken wheel, reveals that she had dedicated her life to the devotion of her religion. Her childhood had been spent in a remote convent, and upon her marriage she saw her duty in England to be protector of the Catholic faith. It had been one of the conditions of the marriage treaty that she would be allowed to practice her religion in England without interference, and throughout much of Charles II’s reign, her chapels at St. James’s and in Somerset House were the only places in London where Catholics could worship freely. The second very beautiful portrait of the Queen as a shepherdess can be seen today in the King’s dining room at Windsor Castle in an elaborate Grinling Gibbon’s frame. The mood of the painting would appear recreational; the ducks at her feet might reflect her interest in birds – she kept her own aviary, importing parrots and cockatoos from India. She wears silvery white, rose and blue, and a broad – brimmed hat pinned with a butterfly brooch. Her hair hangs long and loose. It was de rigueur at the time to be painted in this ‘timeless’ pastoral gear to avoid being quickly dated by changing fashions.

But 17th century paintings often have hidden symbolism. She also holds a crook and her left hand rests on a lamb with a fair-haired boy tipping flowers over its back. The lamb is associated with innocence, gentleness, patience and humility. It is also symbolic of Christ the shepherd, and with his sacrifice for mankind. Catherine had all the foregoing qualities, and she may have identified particularly with the Good Shepherd in her duties as leader of the Catholic faith in England. Why else is the boy showering the lamb with flowers, rather than herself? Queen Catherine of Braganza (1638-1705) She is shown seated out of doors, surrounded by birds and animals, in a later portrait painted about 1680 by Benedetto Gennari. This is the painting illustrated by Jock Haswell on p.15 of his book on the regiment: the painting itself hangs at Goodwood. Gennari was another Catholic, an Italian who came to England in the suite of Mary of Modena when she married James, Duke of York, the King’s brother. Further gentle symbolism is intended: nourishment is being given to the lamb of Faith, and the book would be a holy one.

The fountain, as a source of water, represented one’s spiritual life and salvation, and was often used as an attribute of the Virgin and the Immaculate Conception – the Queen’s hope of bearing a child was still evident. When Charles II died in 1685, Catherine, as Queen Dowager, had three years of openly practising her religion without fear while the Catholic James II was on the throne. After his exile in 1688, however, under William and Mary, all Catholic chapels were closed, Catherine’s household was drastically reduced, and she was hounded into meaner accommodation. For a number of years she felt it her duty to stay on and represent the Catholic faith in England, but finally the cross that she had born so bravely against the spiteful intolerance of Queen Mary, became too much, and she managed to get leave from Louis XIV to journey across France to her homeland, the only method of travel that she could afford. She died in Portugal after steering her own country, as Queen Regent, through some difficult shoals at the start of the eighteenth century. By then, to English Catholics, she had become something of a martyr.

It has been suggested that it was as her special symbol that the Paschal Lamb was adopted by the Regiment at this time. It was about this time that its officers began to be called “Kirke’s Lambs” and the Regiment would not have been averse. The army historian, John Childs, states that before its dissolution, the Tangiers garrison was periodically accused by Parliament of being a hotbed of popery. It would be the hidden Catholic significance of the Lamb combined with the flag of St. George of England that could convey the Regiment’s dual allegiance to Queen and to nation. The lamb is not an emblem of the Royal House of Braganza, which has seven towers in its crest. A tower can just be seen in the background of the painting of ‘Saint’ Catherine by Huysmans. The original of this portrait is now in the hands of a wine-growing family and kept at a Quinta or villa/farmhouse just south of the Tagus. It is a wry post-script to her story to discover that it is this saintly representation which is reproduced on the label of a delicious woody Vinho Branco called “Catarina”.

Series of amalgamation is now part of The Princess of Wale’s Royal Regiment (Queen’s and Royal Hampshires). The Queen’s Royal Regiment through a Lady.

Question: What nationality was Charles 11's wife Catherine of Braganza
Answer: Portuguese